


Eye Of The Beholder

by Winteress_Soldier



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Anti irondad, BAMF Matt Murdock, BAMF Peter Parker, Bucky Barnes & Peter Parker Friendship, Bucky Barnes Is a Good Bro, F/M, Harley Keener Needs a Hug, Johnny Storm is a Good Bro, M/M, Matt Murdock acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Mentee Peter Parker, Mentor Matt Murdock, Multi, Pepper Potts Acting as Harley Keener's Parental Figure, Peter Parker & Johnny Storm Friendship, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Peter Parker is a Mess, Protective Matt Murdock, Protective Wade Wilson, Tony Stark Acting as Harley Keener's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark’s Shitty Mentoring, he doesn't like the Avengers, he doesn't take shit from no one, he has lots of vigilante friends, he's done being underestimated, peter isn't a little kid anymore, the defenders are a mess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:41:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24073858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winteress_Soldier/pseuds/Winteress_Soldier
Summary: He always felt like he had to prove himself, that he had to be perfect, no mistakes.The Avengers had there chance for more than long enough, they blew it. He finds his feet side by side with defenders and other anti-hero vigilantes who don't sideline him like everyone else, he's seen a lot, been through a lot and is not that far off adulthood. The public favor seems to tip more and more to the vigilante side of the scale considering how many busts the community have made in close proximity to the tower while the Avengers sit up there not giving a shit. He does what he does to help people, the Avengers only come out of their hidey hole for Loki level threats or the superhero airport tantrum that (which he was regretfully apart of but none of his friends held it against him more angered by the fact that he was pit against super assassins without being told what he was fight for. thank god the accords were scrapped).It's all about perspective and Peter finds with his profession that it depends who you ask to what response you get. Of course after months of skillfully avoiding the Avengers it doesn't stay that way. (it never does).Parker luck just doesn't take a break.
Relationships: Claire Temple & Peter Parker, Danny Rand & Peter Parker, Felicia Hardy & Peter Parker, Foggy Nelson & Peter Parker, Frank Castle & Peter Parker, Happy Hogan/May Parker (Spider-Man), Harley Keener/Peter Parker, Jessica Jones & Peter Parker, Karen Page & Peter Parker, Matt Murdock & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Bucky Barnes, Peter Parker & Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker & Harry Osborn, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Wade Wilson & Peter Parker - Relationship
Comments: 23
Kudos: 344





	1. Chapter 1 - Mr Criminals Words Of Wisdom

Peter lands on the roof of the tower rubbing his shoulder that was pulled out of its socket not even 12 hours ago. He finds himself coming to the tower less and less recently, maybe it’s the looks of distrust he gets for the people he works with, maybe it’s everyone treating him like a 3rd grader, maybe its because they don’t understand.

Peter would’ve thought Tony would understand what its like to have a reputation and that the media plays favourites and does everything it can to get more attention but apparently not. He sighs mentally preparing for sitting through another hour-long lecture on why he shouldn’t hang out his Devil-Dad aka Daredevil not that Tony knows much about him.

_‘As long as they don’t find out that I hang out with Frank Castle regularly he should be alright’._

As predicted Tony is standing there waiting along with the rest of the team Ironman Avengers which in reality is only Black Widow, Vision, Rhodes and Tony himself but they're still highly respected heroes nonetheless. The 17 year old sighs as Tony levels him with a glare as he enters the penthouse. “What were you thinking” shit, calm, calm Tony Stark is worse than angry Stark, calm means that they’ll never find a body.

“They needed help, it’s not like I could leave them” he retorts feeling his anger start build, hell would have to freeze over for Peter to leave innocent people behind because it’s _‘too much of a risk for him’_ , yeah fuck that. “What you did was beyond reckless and stupid, all because your too naive and want to prove yourself” Peter see’s red “Fuck you Stark” He spits with more venom than he thought possible.

Surprise and hurt flicker across Stark’s face for a second before he schools his face into a stoic mask. “I’m not a kid anymore, I can make my own choices that don’t need your input” Peter snaps anger coursing through his veins. He remembers back to when he was almost shipped off to Germany to fight the rogues and can't help but wonder if Tony can see the hypocrisy in his own words. He levels a glare at his so called mentor through his mask, he's done being they're little, robotic soldier, fuck that.

“Better find yourself a new mentee Stark because I’ll join the Avengers over my dead body. Have a nice fuckin’ life. I’ll return the suit tomorrow” Peter growls tauntingly, before launching himself out of the open Tower window. Leaving a bunch of disgruntled and slightly offend team Iron man in his wake.

* * *

“They always treat me like I’m a baby”

“Technically…”

“I’m always doing something wrong, like because I’m a teenager I’m suddenly incapable of handling myself when I did fine solo before those fuckers showed up”

“You were wearing Pyjama’s”

“Then they criticize my judge in character when I have a built-in warning system”

“Ok point”

“Then I told them to go fuck themselves because I don’t need shit from a pack of hypocritical asshole”

“I’m surprised this hasn’t happened sooner” Felicia watches as Peter paces back on forth the same way she found him 10 minutes beforehand. Felicia was aware of how the Avengers have been treating her best friend and is surprised it took him this long to give the remaining Avengers the middle finger. They never wanted a teammate, they wanted a soldier that listened and did what he’s told no questions asked.

Slightly concerned for his sanity Felicia send a text (without Peter realizing to busy with the aggressive pacing) to Matt to come and deal with the Spider who looks closer and closer to the murder as each minute passes. Felicia frowns and somehow Peter senses her mood shift as his murderous pacing stops as he turns to check on her.

“What about your internship, last I checked you were barely scraping by in that disgusting thing you call an apartment”

Ok, not the right thing to say as the murderous ranting and pacing continues and she can only hope that Murdock isn’t too far out because Peter seems very close to going down Frank’s career path which wouldn’t be good for anyone.

“It’s like I was just some low-life criminal they were supposed to keep an eye on” Her heart stops, while she may be fine with being the bad guy Spider-man is always looked at as menace and she knows the toll it takes on Parker. Shit, looks like Peter made the same conclusion that they only ever wanted him there to keep an eye on him, because he’s a dangerous vigilante.

“Of course, I’m a threat. Dangerous. An illegal vigilante they want to stop from going rogue. Ahhh fuck!” Peter’s fist crashes into the edge of the roof cracking the cement and Felicia jumps up at that not stepping towards him because she didn’t get super strength and would rather not be pummelled into oblivion because Peter was pissed and didn’t reign in his strength. No thanks, she likes her life thank you. It’s not even that he scared her it’s just that she acknowledges that she’s no match for his strength if he used it to the best of his ability.

A baton hits Peter in the back of the head and Felicia swears that the man has impeccable timing.

“Fuck off Matt” Matt, to his credit, just raises an eyebrow at the fuming spider before looking towards where he vaguely pin points Felicia to be to explain the murderous spider.

“The Avengers are dick’s and now Pete’s ready to become Frank castle with freaky spider powers” Matt twitches when she mentions Frank but otherwise nods along to the explanation.

“I’ve got a job that links over into the investigations you’ve been doing” the aggressive pacing finally stops and he turns to Matt, head tilted like a puppy.

Felicia sashays her way back towards Peter kissing his cheek before running and jumping to the next building, taking off into the night. “The abandoned warehouse on 43rd and 12th, I got wind of a meeting being held there tonight. Maybe crippling some gang members will help”

It doesn’t take long for them to get there, Peter uncharacteristically silent still reeling in anger. The web slinging over did nothing to help his shoulder aggravating the wound more. If you had have told him 5 years ago he’d be where he is now he never would’ve believed you, he’s just a broke kid from queens doing his best to make it to the end of each week. He’s the kid who drew the short straw on life, shitty from day one. Peter’s done being told to stand down, this is his choice, his responsibility, he chose that the minute he decided to chase ben’s killer. He played his cards, he’s done being the good little soldier.

Peter found that as time went on he found himself leaning more and more to the vigilante side of it all, then he finally snapped. The vigilante community are a family, they look out for each other but they don’t try and control each other, everyone fly’s solo until things get crossed over but that’s it, they don’t overstep either, if it’s someone else’s villain you don’t step in until asked or what you’re doing intertwines.

Matt found Peter after the Coney Island incident, he decided to teach him, so he wouldn’t end up dead. That’s when Tony Stark changed in his eyes, he didn’t give two shits if Peter ended up dead, he didn’t listen to him, he tried to sideline him, all because of his age. When you’ve been through all the shit, he’s experienced age starts to lose it’s importance.

A beat up, black van pulls up a couple buildings away from the warehouse probably trying to ward off suspicion. Matt tilts his head and Peter does the same (while his senses may not be on Matt’s level he can still hear for quite a distance). 3 heartbeats, 3 people. The 3 men walk towards the warehouse and he can hear at least another 20 heartbeats or so inside, looks like they got the right place.

* * *

Peter’s fist connects with the jaw of a druggie, knocking it out of it’s socket without much effort. Despite what some think he’s actually really skilled in hand to hand (thanks Matt) and sometimes he needs to fight to let out his anger.

“Bad day?”

“Shit day”

“Stark?”

“He’s a dick”

“Still trying to control Spider-Man?”

“Yeah, but I’ve talked to Fury, he doesn’t give a shit what we do as long as there’s not too much property damage”

“Don’t you work for S.H.I.E.L.D sometimes?”

“On and off, mainly to piss off Fury because I have full control over what I do and if I do it”

Peter lands a strong uppercut on one of thugs before using webbing to through him into two others before he’s dragged into another fight landing punch after punch.

“I feel like I’ve been doing the best I can but maybe I’m not, is that why they try to control me?” Peter questions to himself out loud halting his aggressive beating on the thug who looks at him thoughtfully.

“Maybe there puttin’ there own problems on you so they don’t feel guilty about sittin’ up in that tower while you deal with aftermath of their battles” the thug poses and Peter nods to himself taking his words in

“What about the constant berating’s about being to naive and thoughtless, like I’m not haunted by the faces of everyone I’ve seen die?” Peter nearly growls at the end of the sentence looking at thug for an explanation and said thug sighs before thinking.

“Maybe they see you as their own personal scapegoat, something to train and teach to become a perfect little soldier they can whip out to use as their personal redemption slave.”

“Huh, thanks” Peter nods to the unnamed criminal before knocking him out “You’re still a criminal but the help with my existential crisis is much appreciated”

5 minutes pass and all the thugs are webbed to the wall sporting extensive injuries. Peter and Matt perch themselves on a nearby roof to make sure they get taken away and in case they need to assist.

“How’ve you been really?” Matt question quietly, he knows what it’s like to be pushed to talk even if you haven’t even fully worked it out for yourself. “I just wish I could be seen as more than just a kid, like I’m not capable of holding my own because I can’t legally drink. Is it wrong for me to want someone to have faith in me for once, to believe in me, just once” the end of the sentence comes out like a whisper as his anger finally washes away to lay dormant once again.

“I believe in you, Wade, Frank, Felicia, Jess, Luke, Danny, Foggy, Karen & Claire all believe in you. Sure we may have our own problems but every single one of us has always been there for you without fail and that won’t ever change” a smile pulls at the edge of his lips from Matt’s words (ignoring the fact he looked ready to throw up mentioning Castle).

“I just wish things could’ve gone differently, anyway” he sighs “I should get back to patrol, see ya later Matt” Peter’s voice picks up that childish tone and swings away the older vigilante watching him go with a fond, hidden smile.

Had of told him a couple years ago he’d become a pseudo Dad for a reckless, extremely stubborn spider-powered teen, yeah good luck getting him to believe that one but look where he Is now. He knew this day was coming for awhile, the day Spidey finally had enough being sidelined, he always knew Peter would snap at some point. He looked lighter, happier once the anger subsided which it will, like he could finally move on from something that he didn’t realize had been holding him back for so long.

Matt has been around since the relative being of Spider-Man (He likes to think of it as when Spidey finally found his place not that awkward faze at the start) he’d seen Peter from his best to his worst and everything in between and it’s almost like a whole new journey has started for him. At first Matt had been hesitant as most would be at the idea of a 15 year old running around in spandex and throwing himself into fights but after a particularly rough fight he understood.

Peter had given up his chance at a normal life to save the lives of people that cursed his name and called him a menace. Who ever said the path of a vigilante is easy is wrong, they take so much but are still always there when people need them to be. Peter was never a normal kid since day 1, he understood the weight of the burden he had to carry when he first put on his suit, he’s not some kid that went out completely blind and unaware. Everybody got skeletons in the closet and the kid was no exception, he knows how to divert attention, he knew how to play to what people thought of him a skill that has proved useful time and time again. A severely underestimated spider teen that decided to help the world that only ever beat him down and sure, at almost 18 he’s got a bit rougher and a bit more scarred but he still does right by everyone else no matter how many times they’ve beat him down.

_‘Seems like people forget that we’re still human under all the masks and superhuman powers, they’re still people’_


	2. Chapter 2 - Day By Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Landing on the roof Peter, quietly this time, enters the apartment through the roof access dropping into a crouch on the floor silently. His Spidey sense blares at the base of his skull and he barely dodges a flying baton that Matt had hurled at his head “Yo dipshit, it’s me” Peter yells and Matt stands stunned for a second before shaking his and turning around heading straight back into his bedroom.
> 
> \------------  
> 'My past has tasted bitter, for years now, so i wield an ironfist' - He's got more secrets than anyone could imagine, more skeletons in the closet than you would ever think. He lives day by day, holding onto the hope that the secrets he keeps will never see the light of day.

Peter grumbles to himself as he stumbles his way to school still half asleep, the anger from the previous night having simmered down. Patrol had gone till around 4 that morning as he had to stop by the tower, he dropped his old suit off, like on the literal roof of the tower. May has never been strict on curfew’s and she became more lenient when learning just how he spends his nights, her only rules were that his grades didn’t drop and that he remained healthy then she didn’t really care what he did, just that he didn’t burn himself out.

He dramatically collapses in his chair in roll call not really paying attention to anything and just letting his mind wander. Peter’s head snaps up as his name is called, his teacher, Mrs Teller, just smiles in amusement waving a green slip in the air. Pulling himself up he grabs the slip & his bag before making his way to the principal’s office, a grimace on his face at the thought of what he could be getting in trouble for now.

Entering the office he puts on his perfected fake smile as Mr. Morita walks towards him a teen his age with sandy hair trailing unsurely behind him. “Peter, wonderful. I was hoping you could guide Mr. Keener here around the school and just show him where everything is for the next couple of days.” He pauses for a second as the bell rings and without even letting Peter respond he nods clapping his hand together “Great. Off to class, your in the same house so your schedules are the same except for electives” Morita rushes them out of the office leaving the pair to just kinda, stare at each other awkwardly.

Putting up a front Peter slides a fake smile on his face motioning to the other teenager to follow him “We have maths first today in B21, he’s a really nice teacher” in truth he couldn’t stand the moron, he knows everything the schools supposedly ‘ _teaching him’,_ at this point he only ever goes to school because Matt wants him to have a quote on quote _‘normal high school experience’_ which is complete and utter bullshit considering what his life had been beforehand.

Peter and May have a system. May is still young enough to want to go out and live her life & usually has late hospital shifts, so they don’t really have that much to do with each other. Peter spent his whole life surviving on his own and he couldn’t break that mentality once moving in with May. May doesn’t give a shit about what he does as long as he remains healthy & keeps her somewhat in the loop about if anything is going down that might result in his absence for a couple days. It’s funny because Matt swooped in and kinda took over as a parental figure, more so than May but she had never wanted kids & was always more suited to the cool Aunt than anything else.

He snaps out of it as they reach the classroom, shooting blondie a grin that was maybe a bit too shark like before entering the room, leaving the other teen to flounder under the teachers questioning. Taking a seat next to Mj he starts sketching out a complex web-shooter design since he smashed his old ones when beating up one of the agents connected to his ongoing investigation. If he passive aggressively answers every mind-numbing question the teacher shoots at him because he sent blondie to sit next to him, well, no one noticed anyway.

* * *

As soon as the final bell rings Peter is rushing down the hallway and out of the school gates, leaving behind blondie who had been trailing him like a lost puppy the entire day. Ducking into a secluded alleyway he swaps into his suit awkwardly swing over to hell’s kitchen with only one working web-shooter which got him quite a few weird looks.

Changing out of his suit he walks a few blocks before finally reaching his destination, Murdock, Nelson & Page Law Firm. After Matt started training him on the vigilante side of things he decided they needed to have an alibi on how they knew each other, thus came the internship idea. Peter had once mentioned needing an alibi to Stark who just waved him off saying nobody would pay that much attention, which he admits did sting a bit. Matt posed the idea of having an intern to his law partners who have no idea about Peter’s alter ego. The elder vigilante played his part by drawing special interest to Peter, playing to his sob story saying, he quotes _‘Play on that, people will never suspect a poor orphan, or a blind man of taking down creeps in back alleys of the city’._

The two vigilantes made sure not to act like they knew each other to ward off suspicion. They made it look like they were building up a friendship over time & so far nobody has questioned it. May of course knows and insisted Peter invite Matt over for dinner, she spent the entire meal hinting at everything she’d do to Matt if he did what Tony did.

He walks into the office to see the familiar sight of Karen yelling at her computer and Foggy filling up what must be his 7th coffee of the day. Without saying hello Peter plops down at his desk, pulling his camera from his bag and connecting the SD card to his laptop that he made from scratch. One the other learnt of his gift with technology he also became their go to for any machine repairs. “Holy shit!” Foggy exclaims, little droplets of coffee spraying into the air as the owner of said coffee nearly jumps a foot in the air at the sight of Peter who had silently entered the office without anyone noticing. “Seriously Parker? One day I’ll have a heart attack and it’ll be on you, my tombstone will say cause of death _‘Peter Parker’s creepy silent ninja tendencies’”._

Never let it be said that Foggy can’t be a dramatic ass bitch, because he can, and he will. Peter just laughs to himself while continuing to edit photo’s he took for Karen’s latest blog post. Being that Peter’s not that into being a lawyer he’s become more like an assistant journalist for Karen. One thing that makes his internship more entertaining is that they have no idea that he knows of Matt’s alter-ego, he’s 95% sure he found out before they did but it makes it all the more fun to watch them scramble to try and make up believable excuses for all of Matt’s questionable absences and injuries, it did cover up all the times he disappeared randomly. Peter’s sure if they weren’t so distracted in covering for Matt then they’d probably recognize the pattern and narrow down which vigilante he’s moonlighting as.

“Hey Peter, come look over this and tell me if it’s okay enough to post” he jumps up from his seat, taking a few minutes to silently scan Karen’s post “Might want to make it more passive aggressive, highlight every cover up and hint your opinion through statistic’s and evidence instead of outright stating with nothing persuasive to support it” she nods and hums to herself before furiously starting to type away at her computer. The rest of the afternoon goes in a similar fashion until around 5:30 which is when his internship is done for the day. Saying a quick goodbye to Foggy & Karen he rushes out of the building, swapping into his Spider-Man suit and beginning his roof hopping towards Matt’s apartment.

He thinks Karen may have picked up on the fact that he didn’t ask where Matt was but he can only hope she chalks it up to him being used to Matt being off on random days and that he’s learnt to not question it. In reality he’s on his way to said man’s apartment to berate him for taking several bullets on patrol the night before.

Landing on the roof he slams the roof access door opening eliciting a groan from inside the apartment. “The door opens just like any others, you don’t have to try and imbed it into the wall every time you come here” Matt berates, laying on his back on the lounge, bandages decorating his torso “I could just come through the window” Matt lazily swats at him a tiny smirk worming it’s way onto his face. “You still going to train?” “Yep, Danny’s coming with me on patrol as well, we’re following a possible lead” Matt places a hand to chest being as over-dramatic as one can manage with several healing bullet wounds. “I might stay here tonight depending on how tonight goes, just wanted to come check on you before getting ready to train with Danny” Matt waves him off, throwing a pillow at his head “Bugger off, you’ve got shit to do & I’ve got two friends heading here now that will catch a certain _intern_ here if he doesn’t fuck off” he finishes his sentence with an angry growl his DD voice seeping through. Peter just chuckles before launching up the roof entrance and leaping off the roof to swing back over to queens. After knowing Matt for as long as he has, he knows what to expect when he’s injured, mood swings. When the devil of hell’s kitchen gets injured, he goes through more mood swings then a teenage girl.

Landing on a train he pulls his buzzing phone out, subconsciously using his powers to stay stationary.

 **Jazz Hands:** Meet me at 26th and 35th at 6:25 😊

 **Web-Head:** DD’s out of commission so he won’t be there to beat our asses to bad tonight, the mood swings have already started

 **Jazz Hands:** I’ll pass the message onto the others, don’t want to have to explain why Daredevil’s trying to murder someone

 **Web-Head:** 👍

Sliding his phone into one of his suits many pockets before jumping off the train and swinging towards his apartment. A benefit of living in a dingy apartment complex is that hardly anyone walks past & there’s no street camera’s so nobody see’s him go in or out as Spider-Man, makes his life ten times easier despite his wish of one day not having to worry about money. Maneuvering through his bedrooms room he wastes no time in shedding his suit and making a beeline for the kitchen eager to subdue the dull throb of pain emanating from his stomach. He vaguely hears May chuckle as he tears open several packets of chips, eagerly swallowing the contents barely taking a second to chew.

“Hey Pete, off to training and patrol?” she questions lightly. May has been an absolute saint, taking the entire situation in her stride & set out plan on how they would function moving forward not even needing to question his motives or if he’d step down already knowing the answer. “It’s just going to be me & Iron-fist tonight since Daredevil’s out of commission for awhile” May nods before looking at him a little hesitantly “Ok. Um, Pete? I have a date tonight & just thought I’d let you know because I don’t want you to think I’m forgetting Ben or replacing him” Her rambling mirrors his own and he lets an easy going smile glide onto his face, May still has her whole life to live, why would he mad at her for trying to live it? “May, it’s fine. Go and have fun, I’m going to be busy tonight anyway. I’ll probably crash at Iron-fist's or Daredevil’s anyway so don’t worry about me, I know you’re not replacing Ben, go out and enjoy your date tonight” Peter waves away her concern genuinely happy to see his Aunt moving on with her life, something he always though he was stopping her from doing.

May pulls him into a tight embrace, kissing his cheek lightly before rushing off into her room to get ready. Going back to his room he tips his bag upside down letting his school supplies litter the floor. Opening the false draw bottom he put in Peter his wraps, extra web-fluid, gym clothes & a first aid-kit since they usually train with their powers. Dawning the spider-suit for the 3rd time that day he hefts his bag onto his shoulders before launching out of the apartment window as the city gets cast in a golden glow. Sending a quick text to his Aunt to let her know he’s already left he makes his way over to the address Danny sent.

Once on the street Peter can pick up on the familiar sound of Danny’s heartbeat & lets it guide him towards his friend. Danny is perched on the roof, face adorned with his bright yellow iron fist mask. “Hey webs, ready for training?” he questioned animatedly and Peter nods “You bet”. Entering the empty gym Peter scans for any cameras before stripping from his Spidey suit & pulls on his ratty gym clothes. They start out with 5 minute stretches before jumping straight into some sparring, not too rough but enough to actually be having to put effort in.

As they get further into the sparring Peter lets his firm hold on his super strength loosen, his blows coming in faster and harder. Danny smirks as Peter cuffs him across the face letting his fist glow dimly. Peter catches the glowing fist, sliding a leg behind Danny’s to try and sweep him but Danny catches on flipping out of the way lightly kicking Peter’s face while flipping. Peter keeps his distance, analyzing Danny’s fight pattern. In an effort to throw the monk off he does a series of intricate twists but it doesn’t distract the other vigilante as much as he hoped. Giving up on strategy Peter goes in close, landing a hit on Danny’s face. they begin hand to hand fighting. Danny crushes his nose and blood gushes but Peter doesn’t stop, managing to flip Danny over his shoulder twisting his arm and Danny sighs, tapping the ground 3 times in defeat.

Helping Danny to his feet the older vigilante smiles at the younger one “You’ve gotten a lot better, guess getting beat to a bloody pulp by the devil a couple times a week has helped” Peter smiles at the thought of his mentor who’s probably going crazy being locked inside. “He’s awesome, to be honest I’d be dead hundred times over without him and his border-lining on brutality training techniques” Danny laughs, absently rubbing his shoulder that Matt knocked out of it’s socket a couple months prior.

“How’s your shoulder? Still giving you trouble?” the spider themed vigilante sighs, he went down bad when his shoulder was injured; put everyone on edge because only about 7 months ago he was put down with a shattered ankle that never quite healed properly and now he walks with a slight limp though it didn’t affect his fighting skills. “Yeah. With everything going on I didn’t really give it much time to heal, it still gets a bit messed up if I strain it too much but I’m going to have Claire look at it next time I inevitably need her to stitch me back up” Danny sends a contemplative look down at his fist then looks back up at Peter’s shoulder “I could always try with the Ironfist?” Peter shakes his head in protest “If we weren’t so swamped with all the crime popping up then I’d definitely take you up on that offer but we need everyone not out of commission able to fight, we can’t have you stuck recharging your Jazz hands”

“After everything’s calmed down I’m making you take me up on that offer”

“Thanks man, you’re the best”

“Ready to go on patrol?”

“Person with the least arrests shouts the takeout?”

“You’re on Parker”

With that they slip into their vigilante get ups, climbing back up to the roof & darting off in different directions. All over queens there’s criminals strung or tied up in webs & lots of anonymous tips being called into the police station in Chinatown. It’s around 1 when they finally meet back up Peter grumbling to himself as he goes to a 24hr fast food restaurant, returning with 4 family boxes from Maccas. Perching themselves on the top of a skyscraper they start eating while keeping an eye out.

“Can’t believe you made me pay a $100 for our food, Mr. Billionaire”

“You made the bet”

“Nope, noooo, nuh uh, I’m not listening, lalalala”

“Sometimes in life you must experience failure to achieve success”

“Stop it with the fortune cookie bullshit, asshole”

Danny playfully shoves Peter who dramatically flops backwards groaning “You wound me Rand” Danny just chuckles “Which one of us is wearing spandex?” the monk questions with mischief alight in his eyes, Peter looks at him huffing at the insult “At least mine is excusable because of my budget, what your excuse Richie Rich” he groaned at the nickname before sighing, “I should head back, you should too. Matt may be out of commission but I don’t doubt he can still skin me alive if he finds out I let you pull an all nighter, you know how much of a mother hen can be”

Peter got to his feet, crushing two of the boxes in his hand letting Danny grab the others “A hypocritical asshole mother hen” the spider grumbles fiddling with his web shooters “Team training on Sunday?” Danny questions, team training idea came around when it became apparent that most of them had never had any formal training except for Matt, Danny, Wade & Frank (and Peter though nobody alive knows that). “For everyone not injured, see ya later Jazz Hands” all Peter hears is Danny’s offend yelp before he’s off swinging between buildings back towards hell’s kitchen. It doesn’t take long for him to see the horrid neon sign that sit’s across from Matt’s apartment.

Landing on the roof Peter, quietly this time, enters the apartment through the roof access dropping into a crouch on the floor silently. His Spidey sense blares at the base of his skull and he barely dodges a flying baton that Matt had hurled at his head “Yo dipshit, it’s me” Peter yells and Matt stands stunned for a second before shaking his and turning around heading straight back into his bedroom. Stripping from his spider suit he heads to the spare bedroom which he pretty much lives in half the time. Sliding under the covers Peter let’s the sounds of the city consume his senses, letting it lull him to sleep.

* * *

The sun is just starting to peak above the horizon & Peter pulls himself from the sleep-inducing warmth of the covers into the frigid morning air. Pulling on some clothes he’d left at Matt’s once before, stuffing his suit into the false back of his bag. Walking out the door he puts his air pods in to drown out the sounds of the world, beginning the long trek from Hell’s kitchen to Midtown. Even though he makes it before the bell he realizes that he doesn’t have any school stuff, sighing he resolves to begrudgingly use the old notebook he leaves as spare for the day.

Lunch rolls around fairly quickly though he doesn’t make it to the cafeteria without a few passing remarks from flash. While he definitely has enough strength and more than enough combat training to pummel him he politely doesn’t start a punch up with Flash for the fact that his entire goal is to avoid the government and anything that has even the remote possibility to bring attention to him.

He nearly cries tears of joy as the final bell rings releasing him from the pits of hell where his high school resides. Literally the only purpose school serves is to help cement his alibi. Peter starts to walk the familiar New York streets towards one of the most famous buildings in the city. Usually him and Johnny would meet at the Statue Of Liberty but every month or so Sue demands that he comes for family dinner so she knows he isn’t lying dead in a ditch somewhere considering the amount of times a week he makes the news for getting pummeled to oblivion. It’s almost like another home to him, the apartment doesn’t really count since May is usually working and he’s hardly there with all the stuff he’s got going on, it hasn’t been home since the day Ben died.

Pulling away from his spiraling thoughts he enters the towering building, waving briefly at the overly perky receptionist. Peter books it to the elevator, not wanting to get caught up in any conversations. Stepping into the penthouse as the elevator doors slide open he see’s Johnny asleep on the lounge and smirks. Heading to the kitchen he fills a jug with water before walking back towards his friend, Ben pulls out his camera and starts to film. “FLAMEBRAIN!!” Johnny jerks upward only to let out a high pitch shriek as cold water is poured on his head.

“Fuck you Parker!” Johnny growls playfully while frantically trying to dry his hair

“You love me” Peter grins innocently at his friend

“Yeah, yeah. You’re just lucky I haven’t kicked you out of here on your ass yet” Johnny grumbles walking towards his room with Peter following not far behind.

Peter flops backwards onto Johnny’s bed sinking into the pillows. Johnny sets up one of his many gaming consoles before tossing a remote at Peter, grumbling when the latter catches it without even looking. Grabbing his own remote he flops backwards onto his bed as mario kart starts up. Mario kart tournaments are a regular occurrence with the vigilante community. Usually it would be a Poker night or get blackout drunk night in which Peter would end up with tons of blackmail.

A few hours pass aimlessly before Peter’s phone starts to vibrate on the floor. Nearly falling off the bed Peter scrambles to grab his phone ignoring Johnny’s surprised yelp when he gets accidentally kicked in the face.

**_One Woman Army Calling……_ **

“What’s up Jess?”

“Get your ass down to 32nd and 59th, I need you to do some recon”

“I’m flattered that you chose me of all people, see you do have a heart”

“Just scope out the area for awhile, I think there’s something going on but I don’t have any proof”

“Oh you love me”

“Fuck off”

**_Call Ended….._ **

Peter turns to Johnny with a smile “gotta go flame-brain”

Johnny groans dragging his hands down his face “Sometimes I wish I was a vigilante like all you guys, do more than I already do”

“You just wish you were this amazing hot-head”

“In your dreams”

“Don’t miss me too much”

“When do I ever? Statue of Liberty?”

“Of course”

“See ya later webs”

Peter pulls his mask down before launching himself out of Johnny’s window

Nothings better swinging through NYU, people watching as he does a series of intricate flips in the air. Doing what he does, being Spider-Man, it makes him feel like he’s finally doing something good, being more than he was designed for. Slowly the streets get quieter and shadier until he lands on roof opposite to the building Jess described to him. Peter spends 2 hours just sitting there trying to listen and wait for movement, groaning as the sun starts to dip behind the silhouette of the city. “There’s gotta be something here” Peter grumbles quietly to himself, trying to stretch his hearing even further something he’s been working on with Matt.

The echo of feet slapping the floor fills his ears and on instinct he lets loose a web towards the other building launching himself towards the roof. Landing silently as a golden hue encases the silhouette of the city, the night coming to life. Silently Peter lowers himself through the roof entrance seamlessly latching onto the roof. A bang sounds on the other side of the building but before he can even react a bullet tears through his shoulder, another lodging itself painfully into his leg. Jolting Peter takes the 3 guys down easily ignoring the blood pouring from his open wounds. Swinging down the corridor away from the 3 attacker he's assaulted with an onslaught of bullets. Only able to dodge some of them he ends up with three more bullets embedded in his body. As he swings away desperate to find an exit he spots stacks of crates in a room off to the side. Darting inside Peter rips the handle off the door so they can't get in, scanning over them recognizes the logo imprinted on the side. The door starts creak and splinter, turning he launches himself out a closed window shards of glasses embedding in his skin as the door is burst open.

Peter frantically starts to swing towards Jess' apartment, grumbling silently to himself 'Thanks for this Jess, could the indestructible man have prior commitments that meant that i'd have to get as many wholes a cheese grater in me'. Finally spotting the familiar apartment building Peter lands on the roof stumbling slightly from blood loss he clumsily breaks into Jess' apartment. "Hey Jones! Might want to get Clare on the phone”. Jessica stumbles into the kitchen eyes widening as she watches Spidey rest a hand on the counter to hold himself up as he bleeds all over the floor. Just as he starts to loose consciousness he feels Jess lift him over to the lounge "You better not die, Murdock'll have my head if you kick the bucket" she mumbles as Peter lays limp, drape across her lounge covering it in a coat of rich, red blood.

"Clare, get to my apartment, now."

* * *

Peter gasps, jerking forward blindly lashing out not hitting anything. “Parker! It’s Jones, it’s Jess, calm down” letting the familiarity of the voice calm him, pulling out of flashbacks Peter eventually pries his eyes open to look at Jess a tiny smirk on his face “anyone ever tell you how great you are at calming people?” Peter questioned sarcasm lacing his voice but no heat behind it and Jess just looks at him unimpressed.

“At least I’m not the dumbass who pulled his stitches for a 4th time" a groan sounds from the other room at Jess' words, a disheveled Claire storming round the corner clad in blood-stained Pajamas, which at this point is becoming a normal look for her. “What did I do in a past life to deserve being responsible of several dumbass vigilantes with no sense of self preservation” she grumbles under breath as she gather her stitching supplies. Peter grins at Claire who just rolls her eyes in response fondly, somehow she’d grown to see all these dumbasses as family no matter how pairs of pajamas they’d ruined. "I don't know why I thought, that maybe, just maybe, you had an ounce of common sense and wouldn't go out beating the shit out of criminals with a severely injured shoulder" at this point in his life Peter has very few people he's genuinely scared of but Claire Temple will forever be one of those few people. "I guess Matt managed to pass down his dumbassery" Jess smirks at him taking a massive swig from the flask grasped tightly in her hand.

"You haven't gotten rid of me yet, don't look so excited about it" Peter grumbles and slyly smiles triumphantly as her shoulders loosen, not as rigid as before though you wouldn't notice unless you were trained to like he was. He doesn't flinch while getting the stitches done pretty much numb to the pain of it at this point more distracted by his shoulder. "Did you get anything before getting shot to buggery?" Jess asks now that he's not on the brink of death. "I didn't find much, except, there was lots of crates stacked in one of the rooms. I caught a glimpse of it while I was running. I recognized it but I can't remember where I've seen it before but I definitely think there's more going on then just regular weapons trafficking" Jess gives him a nod. They don't have anything to go on except for a mysterious symbol that could be linked to something else. Peter pipes up again from his spot on the lounge "They also had too many people there. Why have at the least a couple hundred people when it's only one warehouse on a hidden street with no street camera's, no house, no shops, nothing that could possibly suggest anything was happening there. You caught wind of it by pure chance, why then, did they have enough people to equate to a small army. Who were they waiting for?" none of them had answer for that.

"You're all good now Peter, but please be careful, I don't want to be patching you up again in a couple days" Peter sends Claire a charming smile, she wacks his shoulder playfully, rolling her eyes at his antics "You know you love me" she grabs her stuff ruffling his hair as she heads for the door, though it couldn't really be considered as one. "Unfortunately. Please, try not to die over the next few days at the least" "No promises". Peter sighs, rubbing his dully aching shoulder smiling appreciatively at Jess who silently offers him a drink. Clinking their bottles together, they sit in Jess' horrific excuse for an apartment just appreciating the silence as a new day starts for the city that never sleeps.   
  


* * *

_**One Woman Armr**_ : why did i ever agree to deal with any of you dumbasses

_**Motormouth**_ : 'Cuse me honey, i think you mean you are graced with my presence

_**Web-Head:**_ I was only bleeding out in ur apartment bc of ur stupid recon shit

_**Human-Shield:**_ i figured something happened since Claire came home looking like an axe wielding maniac

_**Jazz-Hands:**_ i told you not to go do anything stupid

_**Guns and**_ _**Knives:**_ idiots

_**Blind Ninja**_ : Peter. You have 5 minutes to be at my apartment, i'll find you if you don't

_**Web-Head:**_ Shitshitshitshitshit

_**Human-Shield:**_ good luck with that

———

"Shit" Peter mutters as he heads towards Matt's apartment, ignoring the constant vibrating of his phone, ultimately choosing to walk, mainly in fear of what Claire would do if she found out. He physically shivered at the thought, few genuinely scared him like she did. Pushing the thought away he starts to climb the stairs to Matt's apartment trying to think up his apology on the way though Matt will tear it to shreds no matter what bullshit he thinks of on the spots. The door swings open before he's even finished climbing the steps though Matt doesn't so much as even poke his head out the door. Peter can vaguely hear the sound of Jameson's harsh voice ringing out from a jumbo-tron he has nearby, he put them everywhere to force people to listen to his bullshit.

Matt stands absolutely silent in his sad excuse of a kitchen not even acknowledging that he noticed Peter's presence but Peter's known him for long enough now that he has this routine down pat. It's sad though, he still expects to get yelled at like he was so many times before, most of his life was like that. "I know" that's all Matt says but that's all he needs to for Peter to launch himself into the mans arms letting himself, for just a moment, be vulnerable. "I know it's tough, I'd be a hypocrite to ever tell you to stop. It's better that you have someone that understands rather than the lecture about life choices I've had recited at me a million times over." Peter only nods his entire body throbbing with pain the his special made pain meds wearing off, his metabolism burning through it at an insane rate.

"May knows you're here, I've got work but at least stay here for a couple hours before you go back to the web-slinging and take a day from school. You almost died last night, i think you can have a day off" Matt suggest fastening his tie and flicking out his cane (see: stick of death) with practiced ease. "I won't patrol for long tonight because my shoulder is still messed up and i don't want to end up out of commission before Jazz Hands can fix it up for me" Peter starts to mumble a yawn slipping out of his mouth as he makes himself comfortable on the lounge. Matt smiles as Peter's breathing evens out, it took a long time for him to accept his parental feelings towards for the now almost 18 year old (His shoulder has been injured for over a year because of constant strain he put on it he never gave it enough time to heal) especially since he knew that, it caused his problems with Stark. Peter's always been firm with that Spider-Man isn't something adults in his life can take away when he shows just a little less emotional restraint. Shaking his head fondly Matt begins to head to work.

Matt had to head into work early leaving at 5:30 and Peter sets an alarm to go off at 7:00am to give him an hour to make himself look presentable before heading to school as he's missed a few days doing different jobs for Fury and the school is starting to get suspicious. The time breeze's by and soon enough Peter's on a crowded subway half awake only balancing thanks to his powers. Getting off the train he slips his earbuds in letting his thoughts drift as the song broken by Anson Seabra blares in his ears singing the questions he already knows the answers too.

* * *

" _You're useless" a man in a long, crinkled white coat hisses at him when he flinches seeing him pull out an all too familiar needle. "You're only alive to be a weapon, you fucked up mutant" the man snaps angrily as Peter (not that he even knew his name) fails to keep his tears at bay "Why are you crying?! It's not as if you're human" the man jabs the needle roughly into his boney shoulder, his mind starts to fog and all he can think is, at least it didn't hurt as much today._

_He's not human, that's all he's ever been told_

* * *

Shaking himself out of his thoughts it suddenly hits him the significance of the day. It's Uncle Ben's birthday. Guilt burns up inside of him making him almost ready to vomit. _'How could i forget and, shit. Aunt May's been all alone and i nearly died and it would've been on Ben's birthday. How fucked up can i get?'_ "Guess i really am useless. I'm sorry Uncle Ben" Peter whispers the last part to himself looking up at the sky as he does before making his way into school. The new kid from yesterday gravitates towards him almost immediately after he enters the building and he has to fight back the natural instinct to tell him to get fucked because _'This new kid doesn't know shit about your sob story Parker, not that anyone cares'._ Peter stubbornly avoids any and all eye contact for the entire day ignoring all the pitying looks by actually taking an interest in the new kid, Harley.

Bolting out of the school gates as soon as the bell rings Peter walks the all to familiar walk to the cemetery. Guilt gnaws at him as he realizes he hasn't come to visit Ben in awhile now. Sitting in front of the gravestone Peter places a fresh bouquet of flowers on it, the familiar burn of tears stinging his eyes. "Hey Uncle Ben" he croaks, eyes glassy "I'm sorry I haven't been here in awhile, things have been all over the place, I know it's not an excuse but it's the best I've got. May's been pretty good, she's been going out on a few dates and she, she seems really happy and I know you would've wanted her to move on." he sighs the shadows of the sun setting casting across his stone. "Matt's been helping a lot too, I think you would've liked him. " he lets out a shaky breath, tear rolling silently down his cheek " I'm sorry Uncle Ben, I love you". Standing up he pulls his hoodie over his head before heading out of the cemetery.

Heading off on patrol he tries to focus as much as possible on patrol but it doesn't work. Sitting on a Skyscraper overlooking the city he lets his thoughts wander. "I must admit the quiet brooding type does fit you, what's got you so down spider?" Felicia appears from the shadows but Peter doesn't move from his spot watching the city lights though he does listen as Felicia approaches and sits next to him. "What do you want Cat?". Felicia sighs, resting her head on his shoulder feeling the way he tenses only slightly before relaxing "You don't have to carry all this weight by yourself. Give us some credit Parker, we're not strangers to how hard all this is" Peters arm wraps around her pulling her close into his side "I know cat, I know. We've all got our own demons but I guess your company isn't the worst out of everyone" Felicia mocks being offend while a smile finds it's way onto her lips

Everything's all over the place but sitting back and just watching over the city with one of friends is all he decides to focus on, he's just got to take it all day by day.

_Day By Day........_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Not Edited)
> 
> OK, so this took for fucking ever and a day but i procrastinate so nobody's really surprise. Anyway, i'm so happy people like this story, i never expected to get this much of a reaction for the first chapter no-less. At the moment i'm absolutely in love with any stories where Peter doesn't have a good relationship with Tony and the Avengers, this idea needs a lot more attention than just the few works i've seen about it. Again, i'm really sorry for how long this took but i've almost completed my like, plan for this entire book but i won't promise a specific time frame for updates because honestly i just don't really know when i'm going to get things written most of the time especially with lots of school assessments at the moment. This will not have any Irondad at any point, Tony and the Avengers will have their moments but there will not be Irondad, it's more Devildad if anything. Man i can ramble, last thing i wanted to say was that i would love feedback and some tips (Keep in mind i will come back through and edit everything thoroughly) and if i made things drag on to long or if you guys liked the size of the chapter. See ya's

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to write a new take on Spider-Man that i've fallen in love with recently. Updates are not schedule and i wanted to wait till i finished my other fic to post this but i just had to start it so it'll probably take awhile to finish. I don't really have much else to say other than i hope you liked it, leave a comment because i love hearing what you guys think and having conversations with you all.
> 
> (this was not edited so there is most likely some errors)


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